Coupled Engineering of Short‐/Long‐Range Disorder in Oxyhalides Unlocks Benchmark Sodium Superionic Conductor
Oxyhalide-based sodium solid electrolytes (SSEs) distinguished by exceptionally high-voltage electrochemical stability and mechanical compliance, have commanded substantial research interest, but their practical implementation remains constrained by sub-optimal ionic conductivity (IC). Here, we demonstrate a concerted manipulation of short- and long-range structural disorder that substantially enhances Na<sup>+</sup> transport in oxychlorides. Combined experimental characterization and machine learning molecular dynamics simulations unveil that, the sub-second quenching disrupts short-range ordering by fragmenting the original Nb─Cl coordination and inducing more Nb─O bonding, which triggers the distortion and connectivity breakage of NbO<sub>2</sub>Cl<sub>4</sub> polyhedra. Such a unique structure endows the material with a record-high ionic conductivity of 1.51 mS cm<sup>-1</sup> for NaNbOCl<sub>4</sub>, and 7.2 mS cm<sup>-1</sup> for NaTaOCl<sub>4</sub>, surpassing the state-of-the-art oxyhalide-based SSEs. The as-achieved all-solid-state sodium batteries using low-cost NaNbOCl<sub>4</sub> as the electrolyte manifest remarkable capacity retention (82.61%) at 4 V (versus Na<sup>+</sup>/Na) after 250 cycles at a 0.5C, highlighting exceptional cycling stability and rate performance. This work establishes a coupled short- and long-range disorder engineering strategy that unlocks unprecedented ionic conductivity in solid electrolytes, advancing next-generation sustainable energy storage solutions.
Authors
- Huaican Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1503-920X)
- Wuliang Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0450-3396)
- Chunyu Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8240-4655)
- Yufeng Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0899-5367)
- Yang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0858-8166)
- Hong Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7919-5661)
- Robson S. Monteiro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0818-7431)
- Qinhao Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7558-1968)
- Luanna Parreira
- Yiming Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7503-246X)
- Peiyao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0406-4952)
- Zhan Yu
- Zhongzhu Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6609-2791)
- Shigang Lu
- Fang Jian-Hui
Institutions
- Shanghai University (CN)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- China Spallation Neutron Source (CN)
- CITIC Group (China) (CN)
- Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (Brazil) (BR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- Published
- 2025-11-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202518183
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Battery Materials and Technologies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.46